


Wuv Hugs

by Yalu



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Community: love bingo, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, post-s8 finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-22 18:26:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/916536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yalu/pseuds/Yalu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean doesn't <i>cuddle</i>. He just... lets his arms be a teddy bear when Cas has nightmares. post-s8 finale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wuv Hugs

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [love_bingo](http://love-bingo.livejournal.com) Round Three. Prompt: Cuddling.  
> 

Dean Winchester doesn't _cuddle_. This was _not_ his idea.

Well, the bed part was. And the arm thing, sort of. But not like that!

Start over.

Getting back to the bunker was tough. Sammy white-knuckled it most of the way, curling up on the passenger seat until that glowy stuff _finally_ drained out of him completely, and all the while Cas was staring mutely out the window and Crowley - he fell asleep, thank God, still muttering about some Marnie chick. And the angels kept falling, the whole time. It took two hours before they even started to slow down, and more than once Dean had to detour around a crash site. Cas spent those stretches plastered to the window.

Then when they finally got there, alarms were blaring Kevin was freaking out, and it took another half hour to figure out how to shut them off. Sam'd gotten it figured in the end, and it was the last thing he did before stumbling to his room and conking out. No fever, no glowing, just sleeping so deep Dean was able to get his boots off _and_ tuck him in without waking him. Kevin was all in for heading out the door on his own anyway, and had to be talked (yelled) out of that and _that_ took way too long, and when the kid finally agreed to wait until morning and they had some idea what was going on Dean had started to worry again and ducked into Sam's room twice to check on him, just to be sure.

Cas was coming out of the dungeon room as Dean walked by on his way to the kitchen and coffee. Right, Cas. Almost forgot. He summoned a half-smile. "Hey man," he said."You get Crowley locked down all right?"

Cas nodded wearily, looking like he needed coffee too. Maybe a pot. Or three. "He was... very cooperative. The sigils will restrict whatever is left of his demonic powers and-"

He stumbled, legs wobbly, and Dean barely sprang forward in time to catch him before he fell. "Hey, hey, easy!" he said, propping the guy up. "Jesus, Cas, what happened?"

Cas slumped against Dean's shoulder, too tired to even really hold his head up. "Metatron... stole my grace," he said hoarsely. "I am human."

"Shit." Dean shook his head and used his free hand to clap Cas on the back and try to help him stand. "Don't worry, okay buddy? We'll get it back somehow."

"You don't understand, Dean, it's _gone_ ," snapped Cas. "It was used up entirely by Metatron's spell. I'll never get it back," he said. His voice cracked. "Never."

Dean felt his chest tighten. "It'll be okay, Cas."

Cas just shook his head, curled in on himself - and Dean - and shut his eyes. Dean looked down.

"Let's get you some rest, okay? There's a room near Sammy's you can crash in."

 

Sometime around dawn Dean jerked awake in his chair. Sam didn't - he was still flat out in his bed, with dark rings under his eyes and looking like hell but at least _alive_ , and looking to stay that way. The door to the hall was closed but as Dean turned, he heard it again. Someone talking. Calling. Miserable.

Cas.

Dean hesitated, looked back down, but Sam was breathing slowly and easily and definitely not glowy around the arms. Hadn't been the whole time Dean had been sitting there - awake, anyway - and that was ten hours. He was probably okay now. Probably. He even looked peaceful. Cas wouldn't call for no reason.

Dean slipped out and shut Sam's door behind him. Cas was two doors down, in the room they'd made up for Charlie when she dropped by. The bed was still made, hospital corners and all, and Cas was curled up tightly on top of it, his shoes and overcoat left hanging on a chair. The extra blankets Dean had grabbed for him were still folded in a pile at his feet.

He was sleeping, but not peacefully. Every so often he jerked a little. As Dean stood in the doorway he could hear him mumbling, low and constant with a few clear words - " _many_ " and " _lost_ " and " _sorry, sorry, sorry_ ". The rest were garbled, but if he got any louder he'd wake Sam, so Dean shut the door behind him and hovered, trying to figure out what to do with an angel having nightmares.

Sammy always wanted to be read to. That... wasn't gonna work here.

He was probably cold, Dean thought. It never got really chilly underground but they were all still damp from the rain and the mud they'd trod through at the church, so Dean shook out the blankets and draped them over him. Cas shifted, buried his nose in the pillow, but didn't wake up. He stayed curled, tense, and kept muttering too quietly for Dean to make out. Dean stood back and waited, hoping the layers would help, but Cas stayed wound up, flinching every so often.

Dean hesitated. He didn't really want to wake the guy from his first human sleep if he didn't have to (Cas was as bad as Sam sometimes, when it came to trying things he wasn't up to, and that was with angel mojo), but he couldn't think of what else to do except wait it out. Maybe the blankets would just take a bit longer to warm him.

Cas jerked again, a flick of the head like he'd been hit in the face. He cringed and ducked into the pillow. "'m sorry, sorry, f'give me... _please_..."

Dean felt his heart sink. Nothing was worth this. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and shook one shoulder. "Cas? Hey Cas, wake up."

Under his hand Castiel stilled - no, relaxed. A bit. He breathed more slowly, long breaths, but didn't wake up.

Good enough. Better than awkward explanations. Dean straightened up and crept towards the door but he'd barely touched the handle when Cas cried "No, no, no-" and started thrashing - not enough to throw off the blankets but more than enough to wake Sam. Dean was back by his side in a second.

"Hey, come on, it's okay," he said, grabbing Cas' arm through the covers. He flinched and curled up tighter, hands under his chin and gripping his collar. "Cas, come on, it's just me."

Cas' breathing slowed. Dean had to lean over to see, but his face, half in the pillow, was relaxing a little too. He flinched again, but it was smaller, and when Dean patted his shoulder one hand shot out and grabbed Dean's, and held onto it like a... well, like a teddy bear.

And then he calmed down completely. Crap.

Dean waited, almost wanting Cas to start getting nightmares again just to have an excuse to wake him up, but a few minutes ticked by and nothing happened.

This was awkward. Very very mega epic awkward. More awkward than sitting through the kissing scene in _X-Men_ with Sammy on one side and an old lady convinced they were together on the other. And it wasn't comfortable - Dean had to lean half over his friend to keep his elbow at a painless angle and very soon it was going to do his back in (shuddup, he'd been kicked and clawed up plenty in his life, he was not getting _old_ ). But Cas didn't look about to let go, and when Dean tried to very _very_ carefully slip his hand out, he got as far as nowhere before Cas rolled forward and took even more of his arm to snuggle up against.

Crap.

He really should just wake him. Cas would understand - might even prefer it to finding out in the morning. And they could chat and straighten out whatever was bothering him, and then he could go and sleep properly and Dean could go back to Sam, or even his own bed. He really, really did not have to stay here just to avoid waking Cas.

...But he couldn't make himself wake him either.

So, getting comfortable. It wasn't impossible. It was kind of cold, but there were two blankets, so Dean twisted his free arm and snagged the top one to pull over his own shoulders, and shuffled up so he was sitting behind the middle of Cas' back rather than by his legs. That was easier. And nightmares pass after being calm enough for a while, so Dean figured ten minutes, twenty tops, and Cas would fall into a deep enough sleep to not notice when Dean moved away.

Almost hour later Dean grumbled as he toed off his damp boots and socks and shoved his cold feet under both the blankets, and because ( _only_ because) it was really hard to sit on the narrow edge of a bed without feet on the floor as balance he twisted and leaned until he was lying on the side of the bed behind Cas, not touching him except for his arm still being pulled over the hill, but close enough to count strands of hair and watch his breath make them move.

Cas still didn't wake up. If he couldn't feel it under his arm Dean would have checked if the guy was still breathing.

It felt stupid. Dean wriggled away as much as he could, not that there was anywhere to go, and the more he moved the tighter Cas seemed to hold on. At least it was warmer this way. Cas hadn't muttered more than a few words in ages and one of them was "thank you", so it wasn't for nothing. (If Sam or Kevin came in, he _was_ going to insist Cas still had his angel strength.)

So it wasn't his idea, and it wasn't _cuddling_. It wasn't. But it meant Cas wouldn't have to face his first human day as a zombie, and if Dean dozed off with his nose in Cas' neck... well, he slept the better for it too.


End file.
